Very few executives see the world like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
He was actually a somewhat surprising pick when he was selected to replace Steve Ballmer. But since he got the job in 2014, he has made very few mistakes in a climate that has been rapidly changing.
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Nadella quickly shifted the company’s focus to the cloud, and he has embraced artificial intelligence without making it Microsoft’s sole priority.
Microsoft is one of the rare companies that has been able to reinvent itself.
This didn’t actually seem that likely during the Windows 8 debacle. At that time, it seemed like the company had given away its operating system advantage to Google’s Android, while making a poor bet in buying Nokia for its phone business.
Most companies that stumble as badly as Microsoft never regain their footing. Take IBM, for example — the company still exists, but it’s now a shell of what it once was.
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You can argue that Nadella’s Microsoft may exceed the heights of the Ballmer and Gates era. That’s a stunning accomplishment, given how high the company had climbed and how quickly it fell.
So when Nadella tells you what his biggest priority is, every company and individual should listen.
Nadella has quickly proven to be one of the world’s best CEOs.
Image source: Ben Kriemann/Getty Images
Microsoft’s Nadella shares a warning
Sometimes a CEO tells you what matters without spelling things out fully. Nadella’s recent comments suggest that he understands how dark and dangerous the digital world has become.
“Now on to security. Security is our top priority, and we have made significant progress against the engineering objectives we outlined 1.5 years ago as part of our Secure Future Initiative. We are now applying these learnings to deliver new innovation across our platform,” he said.
You don’t invest in security if you think the world is safe. Nadella isn’t openly talking about the global bad actors trying to hack their way into every system imaginable, but his words suggest a deep understanding of the threats.
“Last month, along with our partners, we introduced Security Copilot agents to help defenders autonomously handle high-volume security and IT tasks informed by 84 trillion daily threat signals. We also added new capabilities to Defender, Entra, and Purview to help organizations secure and govern their AI deployments,” he added.
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This focus has also paid off for Microsoft.
“All up, we now have 1.4 million security customers, over $900,000, including EY Global, Manpower Group, TriNet, Regions Bank have four or more workloads, up 21% year-over-year. And in identity, Entra now has more than 900 million monthly active users,” he shared.
Consumers remain a Microsoft focus
While growing its business-to-business model, Microsoft has grown its direct-to-consumer focus under Nadella. That includes its LinkedIn platform.
“Over 1 billion professionals use LinkedIn to connect, learn, hire and sell, and our membership continues to grow at double-digits year-over-year. Time spent watching videos on the platform was up 36%, and comments were up 32% year-over-year. We’re also seeing more members use AI to gain new skills and find jobs,” he shared.
Nadella is also bullish over the company’s search, media, and advertising products.
“More broadly, when it comes to advertising, we are transforming how people search, browse, discover content, and use AI as a personal assistant. With Copilot Search in Bing, we are reimagining search results with overview pages curated by AI, and embedded conversational capabilities. With Copilot Vision in Edge, Copilot sees what you see and gives you real-time responses while you browse,” he explained.
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The CEO sees Microsoft being able to offer a deeper level of personalization.
“With Copilot Discover, we are personalizing MSN experience based on user interactions and preferences. And with our updated Copilot app, we are focused on building daily engagement and successful sessions across a range of modalities, whether it is conversing, searching, shopping, or travel planning,” he added.